Here we are. The last mile, the final chapter. One last thank you to all of you.
As Jeff Hardy said a few years ago: "This is not a goodbye forever, this is only a goodbye for now".
I hope you'll like the ending, I truly do.

[part 2]

Wednesday night – Dynamite Winter is Coming

It was the final night. It was time for the main event. The crowd was already jumping off the seats and shouting chores. A huge pop came up even before the contestants would show up.

Kenny, as a challenger, was scheduled to enter first. He was so pumped up when he got to the gorilla position, behind the tunnel. Cody and the Young Bucks were with him, as supporters, friends, family. Aside the personal feelings, there truly was a big part of the future of AEW at stake.

As the minutes passed by, the mood began to change.

Riho wasn't there.

Kenny was looking around, pretty much upset. - Where is she? – he nervously asked.

Nick glanced at his brother, who slightly shrugged.

- She should be here by now. It's late. –

His friends looked at each other, then all shook their heads.

- Haven't seen her around here. – Matt said.

- I don't get it. We talked, she said she would be here. – as Kenny spoke, above the fans chants, Battle Cry began to play.

- Sorry, man. – Matt murmured.

Kenny turned around. – I gotta go find her. –

- No, you gotta get in that damn ring. – Cody moved a step toward and scold him. – Your theme's already on. –

Kenny seemed to be losing his temper over the rush and impatience. This couldn't be happening. – I don't give a damn if my music is playing. I need her here. –

Cody came closer, face to face. – I know, but don't be a fool. How long are going to make the people out there waiting for you, forever? –

- I can't go. –

- Kenny, get out there, for God's sake! Look, there's even Tony right there glaring at you. We're not in our court. You wanna get in trouble? -

Matt stepped up with an idea. – Ok, we're walking out with you. –

- No. – Kenny stopped them, silently breathing. – I'll go on my own. I'll be fine out there. But you go find her. Promise me that she'll be here when I come back. –

He turned to face the tunnel, then again back at the questioning looks of his friends. – Thanks, guys. –

###

It was a long walk down the aisle to the ring. Much longer than usual. Battle Cry was almost at its second loop. Justin Roberts finally announced Kenny Omega, and the crowd began to shout his name.

He was listening only partially, though. A good part of his mind was still in the backstage.

He knew he shouldn't be thinking about that now. He should just focus on the title match, on winning the battle against the raged wolf named Jon Moxley, and on not getting his own face too kicked.

But yet, Riho's absence was flipping him out. He turned around at the stage one last time, before entering the ring. Hoping that she would come out and eventually reach him.

He asked her to be there, so how come she wasn't? Didn't she care enough? Or maybe… he just didn't understand a damn thing and it was the opposite?

The last time they talked, for him it all came down to asking her to be at ringside. But that wasn't enough for her. She was trying to ask him for something more.

"After all, you and I never actually searched for a romance or a relationship".

No, they didn't. But if he stopped to think about it, to really think about it… and not just because people kept saying so… may she be the one who came the closest to be the one for him?

Would he have to finally accept that what he's been told since the dawn of time made actually sense?

God, it was all messed up. Things did work out all the way around. He felt extremely bothered, given the moment. No one should rely on someone else so much for happiness.

He told himself that this was not how it was going to end.

Then, Moxley approached the ring. Walking down the stairs of the arena and between the fans, just like the good old times of Shield, with the AEW belt in his hand.

As Kenny stared at Jon getting closer and closer to the ring, a question popped up in his head. It was the main question from the interview he had with Alicia Atout.

Was he ready to be the champion of everyone, to carry all the weights on his shoulders, to be the guiding light and the role model for the young lions that will come? Was he? Could people actually rely on him?

Yeah, like he did with her… She relied on him, and look how it went.

Justin Roberts made all the introductions and the referee held up the shining belt.

In that moment, he wondered why he didn't feel all that ready anymore.

###

The battle began, and it was a great match. Kenny fought like a gladiator, spurred by the fans. The force to swing his sword came clearly from his chest and his stomach, more that from his brain. It was all a big shot of adrenaline, from the first moment the bell rang to the last.

The story between Omega and Moxley wrote itself. It was born at the first Double or Nothing in 2019, who knew when it was going to end. In over 30 minutes of match, they kicked out of their respective signature moves. Kenny escaped from the rear choke, Mox survived to the Tiger Driver 98. After a thrilling sequence, Moxley finally hit the Paradigm Shift.

The whole place exploded, when Kenny kicked out at 2.

Kenny screamed at the ceiling. He wasn't going to give up. It was his destiny. With a massive rage in his forearms and knees, he wore out the walls of the champion. Moxley was going to die for that belt, so it needed a series of V-Trigger to shoot him down.

Then he called for the One Winged Angel. And no one ever kicked out of the One Winged Angel.

The bell rang again, three tolls this time. Justin Roberts announced the winner, and the belt went around the waist of the new champion, Kenny Omega.

There he was, on top of the world, where people longed to see him since AEW was built.

Standing on the middle top of a corner, while celebrating and bathing in the passionate hug of the crowd, Kenny glanced at the entrance ramp. It was his moment, one of the shiniest of his career. But he was alone. He needed to get back there.

###

A triumphal way back. When Kenny returned to the backstage, some of the roster wanted to congratulate on him, with smiles and pats on the shoulders. With the belt on his shoulder, Kenny nodded and thumbed up back at everyone. He was carrying a weary smile.

The adrenaline, the fuel that boosted him during the match was practically over. In those moments, when those epic fights were through and he walked back to the locker room, he felt like he had done all he was supposed to, completed his mission and gave every ounce of energy.

It was one of the many things he was feeling right now.

Tony was there too, and beamed at him. – I knew it. Awesome match. –

Kenny portrayed the best company-smile he had, thanked him and kept going.

He had to see her. Yeah, it was great, he may have become the world champion… but it was not the end of the story.

Things were looking so much different now. He felt like he was trying to catch a train that was hurtling too fast.

At the end of the line, there was the Elite. They were silently rejoicing for the win.

Kenny looked around and tightened the hold on the belt. – So? - One by one, Kenny gazed at all his friends.

The three guys looked unsure at each other. In the end, it was Matt who decided to step up and speak for all. – Ok, I'll do it. – he murmured to the others.

He walked to Kenny. – We tried to look for her. –

Kenny frowned. – And what? –

- Sorry, man. She wasn't there. We found out she left before the show. She took the earlier flight. –

###

One, two, five, ten days passed by. Kenny took a week off for a small vacation, allegedly to get some rest. He skipped the Dynamite after Winter is Coming. The absence of the newly crowned champion was represented as a holiday that Kenny took to roam around the other promotions and show off how great he was.

Kenny stayed away from the Daily's the whole time. One after the other, the Bucks, Cody and even Brandi, tried to talk to him. They asked him what happened, what was going on, if everything was ok. Because they couldn't understand. And Kenny couldn't answer.

The truth was that he barely knew what was going on either. It was this shadow of unknown, untold, veiled, between him and her, this fading out without notice, the reason why Kenny was upset. Why did she have to walk away like this?

When Cody and Matt asked him if he talked to her, Kenny said yes. But they really didn't. In no way they had the talk.

They didn't clear out a damn thing. He didn't know what she was truly feeling, and honestly, he didn't even know what he would have said.

He tried to call her in the days right after Winter is Coming, but he never got her on the phone. It kept ringing out. It wasn't like she was just missing the calls, she was just avoiding him.

What he knew, was that he may have just lost a friend. He didn't have to let her go. It might sound stupid, but as long as she was fairly happy…

He couldn't just drop off everything and run after her. She will return, after all. This wasn't over. So well, he had about 6 months or so to figure out what to do, what to say, what to feel. To figure out if this friendship, as everyone has always said, meant something more.

###

A month later

About a month passed. Kenny had the chance to keep on his promise, and had the very first title defense against Chris Jericho, during another special edition of Dynamite. They built up a quick rivalry over the "Legend of yesterday vs Legend of today", and put a decent match. Nothing spectacular and nowhere close to Omega vs Moxley, mostly due to Jericho's physical conditions. In the meantime, Cody won again the TNT championship and the Bucks retained the tag titles. The Elite was on top of AEW, and things seemed back to normal.

- Kenny, can I see you for a minute? –

An afternoon, Kenny was summoned to Tony's office.

- Standard question, first: how you doing? –

Kenny slightly grinned. – Doing great. –

A small lie was ok. Tony didn't know anything. Outside of there, he could have all the rights to be the Tyson Smith with many things on his mind. By in front of Tony, in the AEW offices, in the arenas, he had to be the same old, funny, living-for-the-ring, the champion Kenny "my God" Omega. Things weren't exactly all back to normal.

- Good, good. – Tony nodded. – Look, I called you because there's something I wanted to share with you. If you don't already know, of course. –

Kenny gazed at the boss questioningly. – What is it? –

- Have you heard from Riho recently? –

– Not much. – Kenny shook his head.

Tony looked surprised. – Really? –

Kenny rolled his eyes. The same old story…

- How's she doing? – he finally asked.

- Apparently, very good. – Tony answered quite satisfied. – I personally haven't seen anything of her yet, but I've been told that she's doing well. They're happy about her over there. And that's actually the reason I wanted to meet you. You should be the first to know it. –

Somewhere deep inside, Kenny had the guts to wonder if, no matter what, she was coming back sooner.

- Stardom board has contacted me. – Tony began to explain. – They made me an offer: Bea Priestley, and another athlete of our choice from their roster, available to take part to our shows. For an interesting amount of appearances. –

Kenny instinctively frowned. Then raised an eyebrow. So much sudden generosity seemed at least a little bit suspicious, doesn't it?

- Uh, you know, that's nice… by the way, would they want something in turn? –

Tony sneered. – Well, it's business world. Of course they do. – he rubbed his glasses. – They requested to extend the deal for Riho. Add 6 more months to her stay. They would like to have more continuous time to work with her. –

Kenny was completely caught off guard. He couldn't do anything but look alarmed. – What? So that will make a year? –

###

Cody looked impressed, when Kenny told him about the last updates on Riho. The American Nightmare took a sip from his glass of wine. – Six months? Wow, that's tough man. How are you holding up? –

Kenny just shook his head.

- So what are you gonna do? – Cody insisted. He had enough of seeing his friend chasing ghosts.

Kenny drifted his gaze away. – Well, I'm the champion, right? I think I'll do what I've always done: fight. –

###

It took some time for Kenny to get back to Tony's office. He knocked and opened the door even before the boss responded.

- Can I come in? – he asked, leaning from the threshold.

Tony nodded. – A little unexpected, but sure. –

Kenny walked in and closed the door behind his back. For just a second, he looked like he was searching for some word. Then fired his shot.

He came there with an idea in mind. - Do you still want to make the biggest super-show ever? –

Tony frowned. – What are you talking about? –

Kenny took a seat. – Yeah, you told me some time ago, remember? You said that, thanks to all these possible cooperations, one day we could create the largest super-show of federations combined. Well, let's do it. –

Tony wasn't quite understanding where the champion was getting at. Kenny, instead, had it pretty much all clear.

- Let me defend the title in NJPW. –

Tony's eyebrows shot up. – How's that? –

- Yeah. Let me just stay there for a while. Just imagine of all the awesome matches I could do over there. –

- You know that I can't have you losing the title in NJPW. You will have to always win against their best fighters. What makes you think they'll accept so easily? –

- You will convince them. There's good business between AEW and NJPW, also after the deals with Stardom, am I right? –

Tony stared questioningly at him. – Are you serious-serious? You think this is a good idea? –

- Never been more serious. In Japan they haven't forgotten about me. It could be a hell of a shocking comeback. It could only bring good marketing to you and AEW. –

Tony seemed to be thinking about it. A lot, actually. – I have to be honest, it sounds intriguing. This shows ambition and initiative. The timing is interesting, though. What a coincidence, uh? Right after I told you about Riho and Stardom, you came to me with this. – he looked straight into Kenny's eyes. – Will you be doing this just for the company… or for someone else? –

Kenny strongly held his gaze but didn't reply.

Tony noticed a slight stiffening around the champion's eyes. He laughed at him.

- What did you believe? I may wear glasses, but I'm not blind. –

Kenny didn't speak again. It was just time to do what he never did.

Now yes, he could drop off everything and run after her. To find out if the One Winged Angel had a second wing.

###

"So, Tony, is that a yes?"

- Wow, can't wait to see you again! –

Kenny grinned. – Yeah, me too. –

- Honestly, I've always known you would've been back here someday. I just didn't expect it so soon. – the one on the other end of the phone laughed.

- You know, it's not like I planned it long ago. It's something I have to do. –

- So what are you up to? –

- I have to take care of some unfinished business, someone I have to meet. There's one thing left for me to win in Japan. –

- You want to take again our title too? –

Kenny paused. – Not really. –

- Uhm… whatever, you'll explain me. It's great to have you back around here. –

- Just like old times. – Kenny murmured, with a hint of emotion.

- Yes, just like old time. –

- And look, it's not like I gotta start over, but I don't know for how long I'm gonna stay there, and I don't have rent or anything. I'll need a place to stay for a while. You think you can help me with that? –

- Ah, I don't think I can help you… because I already did. Am I a good friend or not? I found you something for a honest rent. I can send you the pictures, you want to see it? –

- No, I'm fine. Unless it's a closet or a garage. It's not a closer or a garage, right? –

- It's not. –

- Then I trust you. –

- You sure? –

- Yeah. You'll show me when I get there. You're the best, I owe you one. -

- No problem, man. -

- Alright, see you soon. Thank you, Kota –

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